Lease a working train, you should expect to get one back

You can't blame the GDHS for wanting their pounds of flesh over the sorry state their restored locomotive has been left in.

The destruction of the once-fully restored C17 No 45 while under lease from the Gympie Historical Society has left a sore point with the group. Picture: David Crossley

ONE thing that terrified me growing up was the thought of breaking someone else's toys.

I loved mine and assumed that every other child felt the same. And I know what would've happened if someone other than me was responsible for Optimus Prime's head snapping off in a heated bookcase battle with the Decepticons.

I'm sure the Historical Society feels the same. If you lend a working train, it shouldn't be too much to ask to get one that works back.

But the council and RRC agree the No. 45 engine is now good for nothing but "scrap”, which means the only way it's running into the Mary Valley is if everyone gets out to push.

No 45 crossing Deep Creek Bridge. Picture: Troy Jegers

The council and the RRC seem to have inherited this problem, not caused it. But they also now have it and at least one of them saw it coming. And one can't help but be bemused by the council's request for GDHS to remove the MVHR injunction on the hope a future windfall offsets the loss.

There's nothing wrong with asking; but can anybody imagine the council being willing to forgive and forget if it was $1million of their property broken? One suspects their efforts would only end after moving Mount Everest to New Zealand.

You can't blame the GDHS for wanting back the pounds of flesh they put into their train.